{"id":83201,"date":"2021-08-31T11:27:52","date_gmt":"2021-08-31T15:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/?post_type=bu-article&#038;p=83201"},"modified":"2021-08-31T11:27:54","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T15:27:54","slug":"massachusetts-drug-convictions-overturned","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/record\/articles\/2021\/massachusetts-drug-convictions-overturned\/","title":{"rendered":"Moves to Overturn MA Drug Convictions Have \u2018Profound Implications\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin record-block-editorial-leadin is-style-text-over-image has-media has-box has-media-focus-center-middle has-text-position-x-center has-light-theme\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container-lockup\">\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-leadin-media\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1500\" height=\"1000\" src=\"\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/person-in-jail-2.jpg\" class=\"\" alt=\"A black and white image of hands clutching the bars of a prison cell\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/person-in-jail-2.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/person-in-jail-2-636x424.jpg 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/person-in-jail-2-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/person-in-jail-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/person-in-jail-2-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/person-in-jail-2-992x661.jpg 992w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/person-in-jail-2-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/person-in-jail-2-1000x667.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/person-in-jail-2-900x600.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/person-in-jail-2-450x300.jpg 450w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/person-in-jail-2-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-outer\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-inner\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wp-prepress-tag\">Criminal Law<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"head\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMoves to Overturn MA Drug Convictions Have \u2018Profound Implications\u2019\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"deck\">Criminal Law Clinical Program Director David Rossman on decisions to wipe away drug convictions stemming from a scandal-plagued state drug-testing laboratory.<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar record-prepress-layout-metabar\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">August 31, 2021<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul data-credit-type=\"By\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/record\/authors\/rebecca-beyer\/\">Rebecca Beyer<\/a><\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n<p>Recent decisions by two Massachusetts district attorneys <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2021\/07\/09\/metro\/suffolk-county-district-attorney-rachael-rollins-moves-overturn-thousands-convictions-based-testing-now-closed-state-drug-lab\/?p1=Article_Inline_Text_Link&amp;utm_source=pocket_mylist\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">to overturn the drug convictions<\/a> of thousands of people whose cases were based on testing at a now-defunct state laboratory where chemists stole drugs, falsified reports, and tampered with evidence are \u201cbasically unprecedented,\u201d according to Boston University School of Law <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/experiential-learning\/clinics\/criminal-law-clinical-program\/\">Criminal Law Clinical Program<\/a> Director <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/profile\/david-rossman\/\">David Rossman<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image alignfarright\"><figure class=\"alignright size-medium is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/Rossman-David-portrait-crop-509x636.jpg\" alt=\"Professor David Rossman, director of the Criminal Law Clinical Program\" class=\"wp-image-83206\" width=\"382\" height=\"477\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/Rossman-David-portrait-crop-509x636.jpg 509w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/Rossman-David-portrait-crop-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/Rossman-David-portrait-crop-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/Rossman-David-portrait-crop-661x826.jpg 661w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/Rossman-David-portrait-crop-546x682.jpg 546w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/Rossman-David-portrait-crop-826x1032.jpg 826w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/Rossman-David-portrait-crop-1057x1321.jpg 1057w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/Rossman-David-portrait-crop-275x344.jpg 275w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/Rossman-David-portrait-crop-423x529.jpg 423w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/Rossman-David-portrait-crop-550x688.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/Rossman-David-portrait-crop-846x1058.jpg 846w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/Rossman-David-portrait-crop-1091x1364.jpg 1091w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/Rossman-David-portrait-crop-800x1000.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2021\/08\/Rossman-David-portrait-crop.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 382px) 100vw, 382px\" \/><figcaption>Professor David Rossman, director of the Criminal Law Clinical Program<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The scandal dates back to 2003\u2014when one of the chemists, Annie Dookhan, started at the lab\u2014and ran through 2012 when the lab shut down after news of the misconduct emerged. Dookhan and another chemist, Sonja Farak, both pleaded guilty to the charges against them in the subsequent investigation (three drug lab prosecutors <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2021\/07\/09\/metro\/suffolk-county-district-attorney-rachael-rollins-moves-overturn-thousands-convictions-based-testing-now-closed-state-drug-lab\/?p1=Article_Inline_Text_Link&amp;utm_source=pocket_mylist\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">were also found to have committed misconduct in the aftermath of the scandal<\/a>). Thousands of cases involving the lab have already been dismissed, but Suffolk County DA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2021\/03\/22\/metro\/suffolk-district-attorney-rachael-rollins-drop-charges-convictions-tens-thousands-cases-tied-troubled-state-lab\/?p1=Article_Inline_Text_Link\">Rachael Rollins<\/a>\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/joe-biden-race-and-ethnicity-massachusetts-police-reform-9954fe1f03a5b54951e6536cc0677409\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recently nominated by President Biden to be US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts<\/a>\u2014and Middlesex County DA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2021\/03\/26\/metro\/more-cases-tied-scandal-plagued-drug-lab-could-be-tossed-nightmare-scenario-states-criminal-justice-system\/?p1=BGSearch_Overlay_Results\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Marian T. Ryan<\/a> this year decided to pursue a more systemic resolution, meaning individual defendants would not have to prove their cases were directly linked to the chemists\u2019 misconduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhat the DAs\u2019 offices have done is to acknowledge that the entire state apparatus for analyzing drugs has been cast into such disrepute that the state can\u2019t stand by any of the analyses that were done,\u201d Rossman says. \u201cIt\u2019s a way to close the books on a very sad chapter in Massachusetts criminal justice history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Rossman, the scandal \u201creinforced the concept that defense attorneys should not accept at face value representations that are made by the state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe should force the state to show that the evidence that is going to be presented has the kind of integrity we need in order to base someone\u2019s conviction upon,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nevertheless, he says the moves by Rollins and Ryan to overturn the drug cases were \u201cresponsible decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThese are district attorneys who view themselves as ministers of justice rather than lawyers for the police,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rossman sat down with The Record to discuss the prosecutors\u2019 decisions and what they mean for the criminal justice system in Massachusetts. The following interview has been edited lightly for clarity and length.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a record-block-editorial-q-and-a has-quaternary-theme\"><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-title\"><h2 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-title-heading\">Q<span>&amp;<\/span>A<\/h2><h4 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-title-subheading\">with David Rossman, director of the Criminal Law Clinical Program<\/h4><\/div>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">The Record:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">Put the decisions to overturn thousands of drug convictions into context for us.<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Rossman:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">This is basically unprecedented. There are approximately 80,000 people involved who will get their drug convictions wiped out because of the potential that exists for casting doubt on the legitimacy of the drug certification process that these laboratories conducted. This is being done without the need for any individual to establish that the analysts who were convicted of having falsified evidence actually were involved in analyzing the drugs in their case.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">The Record:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">How will the BU Law Criminal Law Clinical Program\u2019s Defender Clinic see the impact of this in its own work?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Rossman:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">When the original cases came down that allowed people on a case-by-case basis to petition for a review of their case, we went through all of the records we had in the clinical program and identified the individuals who possibly were involved and tried to locate them. But there weren\u2019t very many we found who were eligible.<br><br>What we need to do now is find every single person we represented in the past [with a case tied to the lab]: I would suspect we\u2019ll have about 250 people that we represented. The issue is going to be getting in touch with them and getting their approval to vacate their sentence. Since there\u2019s no risk or cost to any of these people, I suspect that everybody we can find will agree to allow us to represent them in the process. The problem is going to be locating our former clients.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-bu-pullquote record-block-bu-pullquote alignwide is-style-modern has-image-focus-center-middle has-quaternary-theme\"><div class=\"wp-block-bu-pullquote-inner\"><blockquote><div class=\"container-lockup\"><div class=\"container-icon-outer\"><div class=\"container-icon-inner\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"container-text\"><hr\/><div class=\"quote-sizing\">There are probably many, many, many more people who had convictions based on drugs that were analyzed at the lab in those eight years who are affected by the collateral consequences of the convictions even though they might not currently be serving a sentence: They may be subject to supervision; they may be disqualified from public housing; they may find it harder to get jobs.<\/div><footer class=\"caption\">David Rossman<\/footer><hr\/><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a record-block-editorial-q-and-a has-quaternary-theme\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">The Record:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">What are the implications for the people whose convictions may be overturned?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Rossman:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">This will have profound, profound implications.<br><br>Some people might still be serving sentences based on these lab analyses; if that\u2019s the case, those people will be able to get those sentences revoked and might be released.<br><br>There are probably many, many, many more people who had convictions based on drugs that were analyzed at the lab in those eight years who are affected by the collateral consequences of the convictions even though they might not currently be serving a sentence: They may be subject to supervision; they may be disqualified from public housing; they may find it harder to get jobs.<br><br>And there\u2019s an additional category of people for whom this action by the DAs\u2019 offices will be profound: People who have subsequently been convicted in either state or federal court and had their case treated as a much more serious matter\u2014potentially subject to decades more imprisonment\u2014because of these prior convictions. Those people will be able to get those convictions vacated and then return to the court that imposed the sentences they\u2019re now serving and get those sentences reduced.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">The Record:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">Do you expect other counties will follow suit?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Rossman:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">Some will; some won\u2019t. There are some DAs who very vocally choose to set themselves apart from the model of prosecution that Rachael Rollins so publicly declares.<br><br>What will happen in other counties that don\u2019t adopt this blanket resolution posture is individual defendants will have to establish that the certificate that attested to the identification of the drug in their case was in fact signed by Sonja Farak or Annie Dookhan.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">The Record:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">How do you think Massachusetts can restore public faith in its criminal justice system after a scandal of this magnitude?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Rossman:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">This is a good first step, but I think that it should really be an invitation to rethink the way that we approach the problem of addiction. What we\u2019ve done up to now by and large has been to treat addiction as a behavior that we can change by threatening harsher penalties. That\u2019s what the criminal justice system is good at.<br><br>If we didn\u2019t criminalize drugs, we wouldn\u2019t need this lab; therefore, we wouldn\u2019t have had the problem of corrupt analysis. But that\u2019s a tiny piece of the problem. There\u2019s an awful lot that cascades from the fact that we treat drugs the way we do in this country.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recent decisions by two Massachusetts district attorneys to overturn the drug convictions of thousands of people whose cases were based on testing at a now-defunct state laboratory where chemists stole drugs, falsified reports, and tampered with evidence are \u201cbasically unprecedented,\u201d according to Boston University School of Law Criminal Law Clinical Program Director David Rossman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11260,"featured_media":83212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"Criminal Law","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[3803,3560,3007],"bu-publication":[3742],"record-article-category":[3778,3751,3786],"record-topic":[3795],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/83201"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11260"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83201"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/83201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83214,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/83201\/revisions\/83214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83201"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=83201"},{"taxonomy":"record-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/record-article-category?post=83201"},{"taxonomy":"record-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/record-topic?post=83201"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=83201"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=83201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}